Hitori is a tiny piece of software that provides users with an open source logic puzzle game in the style of the more widely used Sudoku games. It has been designed from the ground to be deployed along with the GNOME desktop environment.

Features at a glance

The software features undo and redo functionality, hints, support for a wide range of grids, allows users to create cells that will be tagged with one or two different tags, which can be used to solve the actual puzzle, as well as full support for playing the Hitori game, by checking if all the three rules are satisfied.

In addition, the program comes with built-in support for a wide range of grids, including the default 5x5 one, and continuing with 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, 9x9 and 10x10. These can be easily changed from the Game menu, which also allows users to get hints or use the undo/redo functions during the gameplay.

Its graphical user interface is very basic and straightforward. It partially integrates with the GNOME Panel, allowing users to start a new game or access the comprehensive documentation, from where you can learn how to play and view gameplay strategies.

Under the hood and availability

The program is written entirely in the C++ programming language and requires the GTK+ 3 GUI toolkit and Cairo 1.4 graphics library for the graphical user interface. As mentioned, is distributed along with the GNOME project and can be downloaded as a source archive, installable on many Linux distributions.

Bottom line

Summing up, Hitori is a decent, yet not so fancy application that allows Linux users to play the eponymous puzzle game. The good news is that it is not attached to GNOME, as it can also be used on other open source desktop environments, as long as all requirements are met.

Hitori was reviewed by Marius Nestor, last updated on March 16th, 2015